Now or Never
by jacques.genevieve
Summary: What if Caspian had a sister? Is Susan will be the only of the Pevensies to fall for a Telmarines? Edmund/OC and a bit of Susan/Caspian. Rated M for security.
1. Fleeing the castle

**Author's note:** Hi there! I'm a French Canadian, so there might be mistakes in my English. If you see any, feel free to tell them! :)

--

Caspian was running through the many ramifications in the castle with his mentor to flee the soldiers that wanted clearly his death. When they arrived the stable, the professor, who was short of breath after such a run and a little panicked, gave to him a magical trunk and summoned him to use it only in case of great danger.

"I would have so many things to tell you… to explain to you. If only I had just a little more time, my prince. You must flee now and quickly until you have still time!"

"Will you be in security here professor?"

"Miraz would not dare hurting me. He needs my knowledge to much for that. Have faith in me, now go!"

Caspian was about to leave when he stopped abruptly only a few steps later.

"Johanna! I must fetch her! They will kill her!"

"She is safe my prince. She is not the heir of the throne, now leave!" repeated the professor who was gesticulating frantically to indicate Caspian to go.

They began to hear some soldiers shouting and the noise of the armours colliding resound in every walls of the castle. Caspian considered that it was, indeed, maybe the time to go, if he desired to stay alive. He gave, that time, a harder blow with his legs to the horse and left his domain that, it seemed, he was now banned.

--

Johanna woke up in a start, covered of sweat. She felt bad energies everywhere. _Why this strange feeling?_ She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, got up from her bed with shaky legs and unstuck her delicate and rich gown of her wet body. Never a nightmare made her have so many cold sweats in her entire life. She didn't understand why her body reacted this way that night in peculiar. Why all her senses seemed multiplied tenfold? Each noise made her jumped; many smells seemed more perceptible than usual. _The adrenalin causes all of this; it's sure… but why? _

Only a few hours ago, there has been a big feast. Her uncle Miraz had a boy. It has been a big celebration and Johanna was named godmother, to her joy. The little man was quite cute for a newborn. He was a little wrinkled, like all newborns, but because he was in her family, he was more beautiful than any other babies in her eyes.

Many fireworks burst into the sky, which made Johanna jumped. She took deep breaths to calm herself a little and approached her large French windows to admired the show. She had always liked fireworks. It was so magical, all this lights! She was so much drowned into the many coloured lights that she almost forgotten what made her woke up in the beginning. She opened slowly her doors and went to the banister of her balcony. She contemplated, with children eyes, the fireworks. Suddenly, she heard some metallic noises; her gaze went quickly to the source of the noises and saw a troop of cavalier that was leaving the castle with great haste. Something bad was happening. She was now sure of it. All her fears flood back again. She decided to do, then, what she had always did since her young age when she was afraid of something or when she had a nightmare. See her brother Caspian.

She lighten up a candle on her nightstand, opened slightly the door of her room to see if there was no one in sight and, when she felt completely secure, left quickly her room and tiptoed to the quarters of Caspian.

--

Hardly a few moments later, the professor Cornelius knocked softly at Johanna's door, the knocks were so delicate that it was almost inaudible. In these dark times, he had to stay as quiet as possible not to alarm anyone. The professor knew, fortunately, that Johanna had a very light sleep. Sadly, there was no answer at his knocks. He tempted again, but this time with harder knocks, though they were still very soft. Again, there was no answer. He checked if the door of her chamber was locked by turning slowly the handle and noticed that it was not. He decided, then, to open it and to wake her up. He turned the handle completely and his eyes grew wider at what he saw.

Her bed was empty.

Her sheets indicated that she had slept in it and that she had woke up. The doors that lead to her balcony were open and the curtains were slowly floating by the wind. She saw everything. He was sure of this. And now only god knows where she is. _Oh dear Johanna, in what mess you put yourself trough this time…_Cornelius feared suddenly for the life of this sweet and delicate child.

--

Johanna climbed to the tower of Caspian and noticed that his bedroom door was already opened. _Strange…_ she thought. She knew that, like her, Caspian always kept his door closed for the night. She moved very slowly, pushed the door of his chamber and stood still, in shocked. Her eyes began to filled with tears and her whole body started to shake in front of this horrible scene. _So that was it. This fear. This strange sensation._

The draperies of the four poster bed of Caspian was filled with holes. No chances of survival, if he was inside the bed during the attack. _If._ She said to herself. She hoped with all her heart that he wasn't there when it happened. She started to walk slowly to the bed with shaky legs. At each step she took, she felt that a world was crumbling around her. The most her arm was reaching the bruised curtains, the most there was tears running trough her pale face. Her fingers stretched and grasped a small part of tissue. She stood there for was seemed eternity for her without making any movement. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. At least, she took the deeper breath she was able to take considering that her throat was tied. And finally, she pulled the curtains in one blow. A smile appeared on her sad face. She wasn't seeing that well, her vision being blurred by the tears in her eyes, but she was seeing enough to notice that her brother hadn't been here during the attack. There wasn't any trace of blood, only some pierced sheets and feathers scattered everywhere that the arrows have spread outside the mattress at the impact.

Everything became suddenly clear for her. The newborn and the attempt to murder Caspian. Miraz would become the King if Caspian died. And has he had now an heir, he was in security. Johanna knew she represented no danger to Miraz, because for the Telmarines, woman couldn't become a Queen, only man could govern. A woman could acquire the title of Queen only if she married a King. So, her nephew would be the successor after Miraz death.

Johanna heard some metallic noises climbing to Caspian's room. She glanced quickly to the origin of the noise. Her respiration became harder. She had to flee, no one had to see her in this place or they would need to kill her too! She rushed herself into the same wardrobe in which Caspian had fled earlier, but sadly, the soldier saw her leaving. He had hardly entered the room, when he noticed the trail of her delicate white gown disappearing in the wardrobe.

The soldier ran to her pursuit. Johanna discovered soon enough that someone was following her and began to run as quickly as she could in spite of the fact that she was in a dress and barefoot. Each contact of her feet of the cold stone was extremely painful as she was giving the best of her capacities to flee. She finally reached her quarters, closed the door behind her, locked it and pushed her cupboard on the door. _This will give me some time_. She thought.

She hurried to change herself into a more suitable clothing, in a way she could stay unnoticed among the crowd. She combed her hair into a ponytail and placed it into a hat, dressed more like a man with pants and an ample shirt, took her shoulder-bag and stuffed in it some foods and some personal effects. While she was quickly preparing herself to leave, she heard many times someone knocking on her door; sometimes the knocks were quite violent. Which was frightening her a lot. At each knocks on her door, she closed her eyes in fear and her heart was pounding ever harder that it was already beating. There was a small respite, but when she was finally ready to go, the knocks started over again but this time quite harder. _They're going to kick down my door!_ She thought panicked. Indeed, her door was now beginning to curve at the impact of, what she thought, must have been one of the marble statues in the corridor.

She ran outside, thrown a rope made from several sheets, attached it to the banister and began her quick descent, hoping really hard that her improvised rope would hold out. She was almost on the ground when the soldiers finally succeed in kicking down her door. They saw that she was about to flee and whistle loudly to the soldiers below to indicate then that she was jus a few feet away. She ran to the stable, took her personal horse, didn't even took the time, as she clearly hadn't any, to saddle her horse and fled the castle as Caspian did only half an hour before.


	2. Narnian forest

**Author's note : **Phew. Finally made it through. That chapter was harder to translate! ;)

--

Caspian was always followed by the soldiers. He felt as if he had been riding his horse for an eternity. He began to feel the fatigue seizing him, but he did not lose hope. He would succeed to come out of this alive, he just knew it! And if the situation deteriorated, he would still have the strange trunk that Professor Cornelius gave him to, maybe, save him…

He then saw, in the horizon, a forest. He had heard many stories about it. Many people feared this place and it was, for an unknown reason, forbidden to go in it. In fact, this forest was marking the beginning of the Narnian territory and the people of his realm had many legends about some strange malefic creatures living in there. He didn't believe any of it, naturally. He knew it was only tales to frighten children. It was a great trick to incite the youngsters to go to bed. Parents only needed to say that, if they didn't go to bed, a vile Faun would come and eat them raw, to make sure that only a few minutes after they would all be comfortably in their bed, sleeping.

There he was, at the entrance of the forest. Without any hesitation he entered the Narnian territory… for the sake of his life! When the soldiers arrived at the same point, they didn't show as much temerity as him. Also, maybe the fact that they weren't in danger of death made them care a bit more about the ancient legends and tales. They stopped their horses and looked up at the dark and not much inviting forest. It was as if the trees were trying to talk to them! As if they would command them to quit this place or else, a great misfortune would happen. They all shivered. The general Glozelle gave them back quite quickly their courage, or more accurately, he didn't really give them the choice. He made them understood that it would go very badly for them if they didn't entered that forest to pursue the young prince Caspian and then kill him.

Caspian crossed as better as he could the river, which had a very strong stream, with his horse. Happily, his horse was well trained and he didn't have too much difficulty to cross it, even if the horse had water up to his neck. The soldiers, on the contrary, encountered more difficulties, some of them even didn't make it trough, which gave Caspian a little advance on them. He glanced quickly behind him and noticed that he was no more pursued. Happy that he had finally succeeded to come out of this, he returned his face to look ahead and… BAM!

A big branch punched him at his thorax which made him lose completely his breath and threw him out of his saddle. His horse, who didn't notice anything, kept his running pace. Caspian was dragged behind his horse for, what seemed to him, a great distance, before he finally succeeded in removing the vice stuck at his foot.

He let his head hit the ground covered of leaves and tried to regain his breath. _Definitely you've had better days…_thought Caspian. At this same moment, he saw the strangest thing in his whole life come out of a big tree. Two dwarfs ! _I must be dreaming, these creatures only live in legends ! __The hit I received must have been too hard, that is._ _It can only be this. _He tempted to convince himself. The dwarfs, noticing he was a Telmarins, were about to attack him. When he understood that he was no longer safe, he tried to move back with the help of his elbows. He sadly, had lost most of his energy with the run on his horse and now, wasn't even able to stood on his feet. _I can't die foolishly like this! __Not after this great escape from the castle…_ thought bitterly Caspian.

What he actually didn't know, is that, even his escape had not been a real success, because the remaining soldiers were arriving at great pace. Caspian and the dwarfs turned around towards the source of the noise and saw that the soldiers were now very close of them.

It was now a case of emergency, either he would die from the arms of the soldiers or would he die from the dwarfs. He looked frantically around him to find the trunk his mentor gave him. He saw that it was only a few feet away. He stretched his arm to reach it and then grabbed it.

**"**No! Don't do this you moron!" warned one of the dwarf.

But Caspian didn't listened to his advice and blew as hard a he could in the trunk. His chance of survival resided now in this little object. The dwarf, who had warned him, punched him hard on his head with his mass to prevent him to blow in the trunk, but he was too late.

The Kings and Queens of old times had been summoned.

--

Johanna reached the entry of the forest a few moments later. She too, as the soldiers, hesitated to enter. She could try to skirt the forest, she thought, but she would then be quite easy to see. She decided, for her life sake, that it would certainly be better to enter the uninviting forest and that, even if the child in her still feared this place from all this creepy legends. With prudence, she entered the forest, when suddenly she heard the gallop of other horses. She glanced quickly around her in search of a thick bush where she could hide herself. When she found it, she hurried herself behind the bush and pulled the reins of her horse to incite him to kneel down. She then saw two soldiers, wet from head to foot pass only a few feet away from her. She looked through the leaves of the bush and stopped completely to breathe. She patted slowly the face of her animal to be sure he wouldn't panic and betray their location.

"The ones who crossed the river it will certainly be able to catch him up." Said one of the soldiers.

"Anyway, there's no luck he will survive in this doomed forest." Added the other.

They were talking about Caspian, she was sure of that! So, he was still alive, if she relied on what they said. She would have preferred to hear more of their conversation, but sadly they were already too far from her. When she was sure that the path was cleared, she continued her way to where she thought the river was at a great pace.

She went across the river too, but with much more difficulties than Caspian. Her horse, even if quite elegant, wasn't as strong as the one of her brother. A girl would usually use more her horse for a parade than for a fight. Johanna, though, had a little secret which helped her in this situation.

Hardly after having crossed the river, she heard again some horses come near her. At first, she thought it might be Caspian, but then she remembered that the soldiers before had said that some guys of the troop succeeded in crossing the river too. As she wasn't sure who the owner of the horse was, she decided to hide again and tempted to hide her horse as best as she could. Her hiding place wasn't as good as her last one, but she hoped nonetheless that she would stay unnoticed. She realised quickly that she had been right to hide, because it was indeed a soldier. He was in a pitiful state, with cuts covering his arms, legs and face. If it wasn't for what she thought might have been a children sitting between the two arms of the soldier, gagged and tied up has an ham, she would have began to fear that something bad might have happened to her brother. Indeed, she was furious to know that Miraz soldiers were low enough to attack children without any defences, but she couldn't do anything, because she didn't have any weapons on her. And, even with one, she couldn't do a lot with it. A princess doesn't learn the art of fighting.

She tried to control herself and forget the rage that was boiling in her, went out of her second hiding place and continued to rush into the forest. She reached, finally, the exact place where Caspian had fallen some moments earlier, and saw soldiers corpses scattered on the ground. She immediatly felt sick. In her whole life, it was the first time she saw dead people, and these ones had been attack with a great ferocity. She couldn't believe it was the act of Caspian. It had to be someone else… or something else. Her fears flood back again as she remembered the legends about evil creatures living in the realm of Narnia. Her breath became heavier and she started to look everywhere quickly around her. Her horse felt her sudden panic and start to neigh, which betrayed them, naturally. Only one of the two dwarfs went out of the tree this time. Johanna saw him and start to shout loudly hoping someone would rescue her. Which she knew wouldn't happen. Her shouting frightened her horse to death and he left the place in full gallop. Sadly, because Johanna didn't saddle her horse, she fell hard on the ground and lost consciousness at the impact.

--

Meanwhile, in the world of our four kings and queens of old times, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy saw the train station being destroyed, paving-stone by paving-stone, right in front of their eyes.

"Everyone! Hold your hands!" shout Susan to her sister and brothers in a protective way.

"There's no way i'm gonna hold _his_ hand!" replied Edmund, talking about his brother Peter.

Nevertheless, they all hold hands, feeling more secure that way.

The train station disappeared completely and what they saw brought a big genuine smile in their face.

Narnia. Finally. They were home again!

They ran on the thin white sand, untied their ties, removed their shoes, unbuttoned slightly their shirts and played in the water for a while. Nothing could ruin their happiness.

After a brief moment, Edmund asked his brother and sisters where they could actually be.

"Where do you really think we are?" Peter answered bluntly.

"I know. But, I just don't remember any ruins in Narnia…" he explained glancing above at some old ruins.

They all went to this place and found, after a while, that it was nothing less than Cair Paravel and deducted that a lot of time must have passed since their last visit in Narnia.

Peter pushed a stony wall, remembering that there was a secret passage at this exact place, which gave them access to an old wooden door. Peter opened it and looked furtively inside. Seeing that it was too dark to go inside, he decided to improvise a torch. He torn the fabric of his shirt, took a piece a wood and rolled up the fabric around it.

"You don't have any matches, have you, Edmund?" he asked his brother.

"No…"

Peter found himself extremely stupid suddenly to have torn away his shirt for nothing. _I should have asked the question before!_ He thought.

"…But I've got this." Added Edmund with a mocking smile as he showed the content of his shoulder-bag.

In his bag, there was nothing less than a flashlight!

His brother looked at him with astonishment. "And it's now that you're telling me this!" He said with a small discouraged laugh.

Peter couldn't believe the nerve of his younger brother sometimes!

They all laughed wholeheartedly.

Edmund led the way and they all carefully went down the stairs which were weakened by the time. They rediscovered all their belongings that stayed in Narnia when they left it. Their clothes, their weapons, every single precious objects were kept in big chest for each of the king and queen. They all changed into a more suitable clothing and equipped themselves.

They were all ready for a new adventure in Narnia.


	3. The Narnian people

**Author's note: **Sorry it took long! There are so many things to do in Quebec City this year because it's our 400th anniversary; I barely have time to do other stuff! The most exciting thing is that Paul McCartney will come FOR FREE in one week! I can't wait to see that show!!

--

Only a few soldiers came back from the pursuit in the aim of killing Caspian. Miraz and his wife were appreciating some good time with their son when he saw his troop entering the castle. He didn't bother much of the small number of the group, but rather at the strange package hidden under a blanket on one of the remaining horses.

Miraz went directly to his General to witness finally, what he though might be Caspian.

"Wait my lord! It is not what you think!" The General Glozelle hurried, when he noticed that Miraz was going without any hesitation to the mass hidden under the blanket.

"What might it be, then?" The lord Miraz wondered, somehow disappointed in the fact that Glozelle had failed his mission.

"If I would tell you… you would not believe me…" The general hesitated.

"Then, show me!" The lord Miraz said impatiently.

Glozelle executed the order and removed the cover on the horse. Miraz's eyes widened in fear. He was wondering if he was daydreaming, because that could only be a dream.

"I thought it was nothing more than some foolish legends…" He murmured stunned.

After being lost in his mind for some moment, Miraz went back down to earth. He then created a perfect plan to invade the Narnians and, at the same time, win his place on the throne. He was sure, anyway, to obtain it, because Caspian had been probably killed by the hands of these monsters.

"And Johanna? Don't tell me you haven't found her too?" Was wondering Miraz.

"We…did lose her, sir."

"WHAT? But how? You're telling me, that this CHILD managed to escape your troop? And say that our army is supposed to represent the greatness of our nation. How pitiful! " Burst Miraz of fury.

"She- she's certainly dead right now, sir… A girl of her status does not know a thing about survival in forest and even less the art of fighting." Tempt Glozelle.

Miraz took a deep breath to control his rage. "You must be right. Although it's saddens me to have lost my niece and the godmother of my son … She knew too much about what was going on and she could have betrayed us. Well… I guess we will have to incorporate her in my plan now." Miraz smiled mischiviously.

--

Miraz went to the throne room and noticed that all the other lord of the territory were already there. He knew very well that they were plotting against him, because they didn't like the fact that he was the man in charge of the nation since the disappearance of Caspian, but it did not really mattered to him. He knew very well that he would gain their trust with his new asset.

« Lords of the council, my apologies for being late. I wasn't aware we had a session. » Miraz said with a hint of sarcasm, which put slightly not at ease the other lords.

"We did not want to disturb you in your new duties." The lord Sopespian retorted with the same tone.

"It is true that since the disappearance of our beloved Caspian and Johanna, I am more occupied in managing the realm than usual."

"My deepest condolences lord Miraz… Imagine, losing your niece and your nephew, the rightful heir to the throne, on the very night your wife has blessed you with a son." The lord Sopespian added with an accusative tone.

"Thank you lord Sopespian... Your compassion is welcome in this trouble time. Fortunately, I know who abducted and who is still keeping Caspian in captivity.

"And who are these traitors, my Lord?" asked another lord.

"This is the most disturbing news of all…The ones who did that are the Narnians!" Miraz answered with a voice filled of hatred.

All the assembly started to talk in unison. Disorder overwhelmed the throne room. We could feel many different emotions through the saying of all the lords: fear, scepticism and mockery.

"Oh, but I've got a proof…"Miraz added while indicating his general, with a wave of his hand, to bring the proof into the room.

The doors opened and appeared, suddenly; a dwarf gagged and tied up at his hands and feet. His feet were fastened so tight, he was barely able to walk. The general Glozelle stood aside while two other soldiers threw him in the center of the room so everyone could see him. He fell abruptly on the marble floor and stood back on his knees with some difficulty.

The lords of the room were quite surprised. We could hear exclamations in every corners of the room. Of all the past feelings noticeable in the room before, only one remained: fear. These myths and legends were thus true.

"You forget my lords. Narnia was once a savage land. Our ancestor's blood was shed to exterminate this vermin…Or so we thought. But while we were bickering among ourselves - They were breeding like cockroach under a rock! Grown stronger. Watching us. Waiting to STRIKE ! " He exclaimed while slapping the dwarf hard on the face. The gag on the dwarf face moved down a little by the impact, so he was able to speak.

"And you wonder why we don't like you…" The dwarf said heinously.

"Well I intended to strike back…" He answered cruelly.

--

Johanna slowly opened her eyes. She had a terrible headache. When she felt less dizzy and when her vision became clearer, she noticed that she was lying in a very comfy little bed. She glanced at her side and saw that there was… a pair of boots? She propped herself slightly with the helps of her elbows and saw, at the other side of the bed, none other than her brother Caspian! She almost let out a squeal of joy, but her inner voice told her that it was maybe not the best idea of all.

She stood up silently to make sure the bed would not creak and approached the face of her brother. She noticed quickly the bandage on his forehead. _Who could have brought us here, put us in his bed and took care of Caspian's wounds?_

At the exact moment she asked herself that question, she began to hear some voices coming from the room just beside her. She supposed that there were two persons, because she was hearing only two voices. Moreover, the two persons seemed to have a fight, judging by the tone of their voice. One of them seemed more tender and rational while the other seemed more irascible. She was now very curious to know where she was and what was happening exactly? She wanted, also, to know if her brother and she were in security where they were. _This conversation will certainly answer many of my questions._ She thought.

She stepped over her brother carefully; paying attention to every reaction of the bed, just to be sure it would make no sound while she moved. She did not move around the bed, because she would have been spot immediately. She walked slowly towards the passage which separated the two rooms, crotched and listened to the conversation.

"We should kill them while we still have time! Before they woke up!" The irascible one said.

Johanna's heart jumped. _They want to kill us…_

"Nikabrik! They are only kids!" The softer voice said.

"They are Telmarines, not some lost puppies! You said you were gonna get rid of them!" The other one retorted.

"Nooo… I said I'd take care of them! We cannot kill them now. I just bandaged the head of the boy! I-i-it would be like murdering guests!"

_He's got a point._ Thought Johanna who was appreciated already much more the person who just talked. Whoever he was.

"Oh! And how do you think his friends are treating _their_ guest?"

"Trumpkin knew what he was doing. It's not the boy's fault."

"Even if it's not the boy's fault. They are enemies! If we don't kill them right now… They are the ones who's gonna kill us!" exclaimed the first person.

"You're totally wrong!" Johanna said out loud, leaving her hiding place. She stood still between the two rooms. _Ah! Congratulations, it's pretty clever Johanna !_ She thought bittely.

She looked at the two creatures in front of her and gapped in shock. A dwarf… and a badger? Who talks? She then remembered the dwarf who went out strangely of a big tree and who was heading quickly towards her. Fear took possession again of her body. She couldn't even move.

"C-C-CASPIAN!! WAKE UP! CASPIAN ! PLEAAAASE ! » She cried will all the strength her voice could give, while some tears were running down her cheeks.

She was terrified. Terrified at the idea of being attacked brutally by these creatures and to the simple idea of dying.

Caspian woke up with a start and didn't even took the time to analyze or even understand the situation that he dashed in front of her sister to protect her, both fists well closed and ready for the fight. He glanced quickly around him, saw the poker by the fire and took it, in place of a sword.

"If you dare touch even one hair on my lil' sis, you'll be in great troubles!" He growl in a menacing tone.

The dwarf and Caspian began to fight into the little house. Johanna was standing still behind her brother, always controlled by her fear.

"Stop it, just stop it! Hold on! Hold, oh !" The badger tempted to stop the two fighting but almost got hit in the way.

Suddenly, the two of them stopped, keeping their gaze locked.

"I told you we should have killed them while we had the chance!" Nikabrik said still pointing the sword at Caspian and Johanna.

Johanna uttered a small frightened gasp.

"You know that we can't!" Trufflehunter added.

"Why don't we vote? I vote like him!" Caspian tried desperately.

"Me too…" Johanna said almost inaudibly.

"We can't let them go! They've seen us!"

They started to fight again.

"ENOUGH! Nikabrik! And you… look what you made me do!" Trufflehunter shouted. "I spend half the morning on that soup…" He muttered.

The dwarf and Caspian stopped definitely their fight. Caspian sat down on a little march, separating the bedroom and the kitchen, and took back his breath. Johanna sat down next to her brother, but kept looking the dwarf with a suspicious glance, because she didn't trust him. The dwarf returned it well, of course.

"W-What are you?" Asked Caspian.

"Hum ! You know it's funny… that you would ask that. I would have think people could recognize more easily a badger when they saw one!" He mocked slightly.

"No, no I mean…You're Narnians… You're supposed to be extinct!"

"Well… Sorry to disappoint you." The dwarf retorted.

"Why do you despise our people so much?" Johanna, who was trying to make herself as tiny as possible beside her brother, asked with a barely audible voice

"Why? Ah!" He burst out laughing ironically. "Because _your_ people massacred ours! That is why! Thanks to you, we live as savage beast, since then!"

"But… I thought that…" She tempted.

"You thought what?! That we were the bad ones in this story? Sorry to bring you back into reality!" The dwarf cut her.

Johanna lowered her head in shame. Caspian turned to her sister and gazed at her for a long time with his usual brotherly caring look, which gave her the strength she needed.

"There you go, still hot." Trufflehunter said while putting new bowls of soup on the kitchen table.

"Since when did you reconvert into a bar for Telmarines soldiers?" The dwarf asked with a tone filled of resentfulness.

"I'm not a soldier." The boy rectified standing up. "I am prince Caspian." He added solemnly.

"…Then, what are you doing here?" The dwarf was wondering.

Caspian stood silent for a while, pondering the many things that had happened so fast. "…Running away… My uncle always wanted my throne. I suppose that, now he has an heir of his own… he could get rid of me." He added with a sadden voice.

"Well, that changes things…And I guess it's the same situation for your sister?" Trufflehunter said.

Suddenly, it was as if Caspian did really realize now that his sister was there with him in this little house buried under a tree of the Narnian forest.

"No… Not at all… Why? What are you doing here, Johanna ? Why aren't you in the castle?" Caspian worried.

"I…I've had this nightmare and I needed some comfort… I guess… So I've done what I usually do and went to see you, only… you weren't there anymore and the bed… It was such a frightening vision… I thought I-I'd lost you…" Her voice became shaky and she took a deep breath to recompose herself. "Someone came in, while I was still in your bedroom… I leaved the room, but too late, because he saw me…"

She didn't have to say more that Caspian understood what happened next. He squeezed a little his hand in compassion. Even if their situation would change definitively, at least, they would be together to go through this.

"Well… It seems we will not have to kill you ourselves!" The dwarf said with satisfied tone and let escape a small-laughter from his mouth.

"You're right! We must flee while we still can!" Caspian said self-assuredly.

Caspian put back his diverse protections hurriedly and pulled Johanna by the hand to go out of the small house.

She didn't resist in any way, letting herself being dragged by her brother. She was totally in shock. _All these tales were true! These creatures exists! And we chased them away, massacred them…_

"Where are you going? You can't leave! You have to save us!" said Trufflehunter. "Don't you know what this is?" He added while lifting slightly the magic trunk with his small delicates paws.

"Not really… Only that it's supposed to be magical…" Caspian answered.

"Not any kind of magic! Legends say that, when we blow that trunk, we summon the Kings and Queens of Old to help us. Formerly, when they reigned over Narnia, the whole world lived in peace and our realm was prosperous."

"These Kings and Queens… they are like… you?" Johanna asked shyly who didn't want to offend anyone.

"No… They are like _you_. They are child of Adam and Eve. And strangely, it's a child of Adam who blew the trunk. It can only be destiny. I guess you will have a leading role in the liberation of our people."


	4. The adventure begins

**Author's note:** Sorry guys for taking SO long. I feel (almost) ashamed! I went to a Paul McCartney show for the 400th anniversary of my city and I had this HUGE obsession on the Beatles for a while and then… I went to see the Misérables (still at Quebec) at the Capitole and it was SO exciting… And guess what? I had once again a HUGE obsession, but now on Enjolras (who's a character in the Misérables, just so you know). And well, today's a rainy and depressing autumn's day and I thought I could use my spare time to finally finish the translation of this chapter.

--

"He keeps staring at me!" said one of the soldiers sitting in a little boat.

"Then, look somewhere else!" the other answered harshly.

The first soldier tempted to follow the recommendation of his comrade, but failed at it. The gaze of the small dwarf, tied up in the bottom of the boat, pierced through him. An indescribable hatred emanated from his look, which was quite normal in this situation.

The dwarf knew too well what they planned to do with him. He was, indeed, a bit scared at the idea of dying, even more of being drowned! But he didn't want to show it, he was a proud dwarf and he would so, die proudly.

He was also taking a malicious delight to make feeling uneasy the soldiers. In spite of the fact he was tied up, he felt as if he was the one in power, even if it should have been the oppo.site.

"We are far enough! the first soldier, who was eager to get rid of the dwarf with the piercing stare, said.

The other soldier nodded in an approval sign and the two of them stood slowly, to prevent the boat to capsize, holding the dwarf in their arms. They took a spring before throwing the dwarf, when, all of a sudden, an arrow hit the boat.

The soldiers turned their head at the provenance of the arrow and saw four young people, two girls and two boys. One of the girls had her bow bend, ready to shoot a second arrow.

"Drop him!" The girl with the bow said.

The soldiers did as asked and dropped the dwarf into the water, mocking themselves slightly of the four youngsters. The two boys ran up to the rescue of the dwarf.

The soldiers concluded quite quickly that the girl had no skill with bow and arrows, as she, as a matter of fact, missed her first target. They, so, thought that they could beat all of them down quite easily.

The first soldier hurried himself to take his crossbow, which was lying in the bottom of the boat, to riposte the first attack.

The young girl then shot her second arrow and, this one, went right through the heart. The second soldier, seeing that they had underestimated their aggressors, dived in the water to avoid a mortal arrow.

The oldest of the boys took charge of saving the dwarf, while the youngest had the brilliant idea to fetch the rowboat. This one would allow them then to leave more easily Cair Paravel.

The youngest of the four children freed the hands and feet of the dwarf and he took care himself of removing the gag from his mouth.

"Drop him! That's the best you can come up with?" the dwarf shouted while he threw the little piece of fabric, which had been used for gagging him, on the sand.

Susan couldn't believe the nerve of the dwarf. They had just saved his life!

"A simple thank you would suffice!" she retorted with an outraged voice.

"They were doing fine for drowning me without your help!" he added pointing the middle of the lake, where he had passed so close to die, only a few moments earlier.

"Maybe we should have let them!" Peter said with a fiery tone.

"Why they tried to kill you anyway?" Lucy asked with a sweet voice.

"The Telmarines… That's what they do." He answered to the little girl, in a most proper manner.

"Telmarines? In Narnia?" Edmund said, shocked.

" Where have you been for the last few hundred years? » He mocked them.

"It's a long story!" Lucy chuckled

Meanwhile Susan gave back the sword that Peter had dropped on the sand before diving into the water for saving the dwarf.

The dwarf stared at the knob of the sword and his eyes widened. He slowly moved his gaze to the head of the young man and saw there the wisdom of an old King, and that, in spite of his young age.

He then looked at the other three: there was another boy and two girls. Everything corresponded.

"Oh… You've got to be kidding me… You're _it_? You're the Kings and Queens of Old?" He said in a sceptical tone.

"I'm King Peter… The Magnificent." He presented himself first giving him his hand.

"You probably could have let off the last part…" His sister Susan answered, which embarrassed Peter and made Edmund laugh silently.

The dwarf laugh wholeheartedly. "Probably!" He said smiling.

Peter's pride, on the other hand, was hurt and he wanted to prove to the dwarf that they were truly who they were implying to be. So, he proposed a duel between Edmund and the dwarf. He knew too well, that Edmund would win the duel since he was the best fencer in whole Narnia.

At the beginning, Edmund did not really take the dwarf seriously and thought that it would be really easy to beat him. He soon realized that he had underestimated his opponent and that his whole year without sword fighting was beginning to be felt.

Fortunately, all his skills returned to him rather quickly and with one of its favourite feints, he managed to take aback the dwarf and to win the fight.

The dwarf fell on the ground, perplexed. "It would seem that the magic trunk really worked, finally…"

The Kings and the Queens looked each others in astonishment; they were pretty sure of which trunk the dwarf was talking about!

--

During this time, in the castle of Telmarines, the doctor Cornelius who had got out quite well of the whole incident of the disappearance of Caspian, saw his luck slip between his fingers. Indeed, the arrow shot by Susan on one of the soldiers, was returned to Miraz. The second soldier explained to him, not without shame, that it was four young people that had attacked them, two boys and two girls.

Miraz looked at the arrow closer and distant memories of his childhood flood back abruptly. Old legends, recited by his mother, about four humans reigning over Narnia. When he was a young child, these legends captivated him, but he stopped believing in it very fast as he grew up, just around the same time he stopped believing in Santa Claus.

The recent discovery of the dwarf, however, changed everything. If Narnians really existed, the legend of kings and queens of old was certainly too.

Knowing that Cornelius had a library filled with very old and rare books, he decided to do a quick visit to his room. After several hours of researches, in the absence of Cornelius, Miraz discovered finally a book which gave him all the information he needed.

In the book, some pages spoke about a mysterious trunk, supposed to be magical, which would have belonged to Queen Susan. Narnians believed that when somebody blew in the trunk, kings and queens of old were summoned.

Some hours later, the inevitable arrived at Cornelius. He entered his apartments and saw Miraz who seemed to wait for him. He noticed quickly that many of his books were scattered in the room.

"Do look for some information in particular, milord?" Cornelius wondered.

" Oh, but I've already found it…on one of my SOLDIERS! " He shouted as he planted Susan's arrow on the page of the book where we saw an ancient picture of kings and queens riding their horses.

Cornelius looked at the arrow and an immense happiness invaded his body. He tried to look as calm as possible, although, in front of Miraz. This one, who knew where Cornelius's loyalty lied, ordered his soldiers to put him into the donjons. He did not wanted to kill him, because his knowledge could turn out to be useful, but he wanted, nevertheless, to punish him for his treason.

Miraz asked, afterward, to his general and to Sopespian to accelerate the process of the construction of the bridge separating the Narnian realm of the Telmarines one.

"Go to Beruna, take as many troops as you need, we must get to Caspian before they do." Miraz ordered Glozelle.

" They, milord? " wondered Sopespian.

"It's time you learn your history." He answered pointing the book, which has a red arrow planted in it, with his head.

--

Caspian and Johanna walked surely trough the Narnian forest, while staying, nevertheless, on their guard.

As they were walking, Caspian glanced quickly at his younger sister and suddenly noticed something quite funny about her clothing.

"…Johanna. They suits you very well… my clothes!" Caspian laughed, which made Johanna blush of shame.

"I-I… I can explain everything!" She stammered.

Caspian stopped and crossed his arms, waiting for an answer, with a mocking smile.

"Stop looking at me this way! I, actually, have a really good reason." She took offence and pushed him a little on the shoulder. "These clothes..." she said while pointing them. "Well, _your_ clothes… anyway! These are my training clothes!"

"Training clothes?" repeated Caspian surprised.

"Yes…Well, in fact… as soon as your clothes weren't big enough for you anymore, I picked some of them in the baskets before they were thrown away … I repaired them, afterward, so that they were a little more my size… It's pretty comfortable for doing equitation… In secret …At night …"

" Equitation! " He smiled to his sister with admiration.

"It will have been useful, in the end, isn't it? Or I wouldn't have been able to cross the river … My horse is not as strong as yours, but she succeeded all the same!"

He shook his head while a big smile appeared on his face and indicated her, then, that they had to continue their walk.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, Johanna heard a cracking noise behind them, which made her jump slightly. She approached her brother subtly and whispered some words in his ear.

"I think that we're being followed, Caspian."

"I know, I've also noticed." He whispered her back. "I can hear you!" He added in a normal voice, turning around towards the source of the noise.

Trufflehunter moaned, disappointed to have been noticed. The badger and the dwarf went out of their hiding place.

"I just think we should wait for the kings and queens." He repeated to Caspian.

Caspian stared at the talking badger with a severe look for a moment, took the arm of his sister and drag her away with him.

"Fine! Go then! Let's see if the others will be as understanding!" He blackmailed.

"Oh! Maybe I'll come with you! Wanna see you explained things to the Minotaurs!" Said Nikabrik who was thirsty of vengeance on whenever which Telmarin.

Johanna shivered simply at the idea of meeting a Minotaur. She was not sure what this creature was exactly, but she suspected that they were quite dangerous, considering the fact that the dwarf inserted them into the conversation with too much delight.

"Minotaurs? They're real?" Caspian wondered.

"And they have a very bad temper…" Trunfflehunter added.

"And not to mention… Big!" Nikabrik added, this time, taking a malicious delight to see Johanna's face going pale drastically.

"What about Centaurs? Do they still exist?" Caspian asked.

"Well the Centaurs will probably fight on your side, but there is no telling what the others will do." Trufflehunter concluded.

Caspian stopped on his way, uncertain that he could really ask the question he had in mind.

"What about Aslan…?"

The dwarf and the badger stopped walking too and exchanged a surprised look.

"How do you know so much about us?" The dwarf asked, surprised.

Johanna also looked at him with a surprised look. She knew that they didn't have the same education, but she did not suspect that, his, would contain lessons on the ancient history of Narnia!

Johanna's education consisted in learning only what was necessary for a princess. Fortunately, her brother showed her everything he learned on his side, which made her the cleverest princess in their world. Naturally, it stayed their little secret and so, nobody knew.

She was more than surprised to see that he particularly omit this lesson in peculiar.

"Stories…" Caspian only found as an answer.

"Wait a minute. Your father told you stories…about Narnia?" Trufflehunter asked him, even more surprised.

"No, my professor C-… Listen, I'm sorry. This is not the kind of question you should be asking." Caspian stopped abruptly and started his walk again with a fast pace, going past the two Narnian creatures.

Johanna was rather surprised with the reaction of her older brother. _Why does he need to hide Cornelius's identity? _She wondered.

In this exact moment, Trufflehunter began sniffing loudly, as if a particular smell arrived at his nostrils.

"What is it?" The dwarf wondered.

"Humans." The badger simply answered.

"Them?" The dwarf added, pointing Caspian and his sister.

"No, them!" Trufflehunter corrected, pointing the many soldiers, armed with their crossbows, only a few meters away from them.

"RUN!" Caspian shouted, who already began his wild race.

Caspian and Johanna were the fastest of the four, being easier to run with long human legs, followed then by the dwarf and, finally, by the badger.

A rain of arrow came down all around them. An arrow almost touched Johanna's face, moving some locks, which were out of her hat, in the way. She let out a piercing shout, but continued her race without losing the rhythm.

Just after Johanna's shout, another type of shout was heard, but this time it was a shout of somebody who had just been touch. Everybody stopped to see who was the victim and noticed rather quickly that it was the badger.

Caspian, who was at the head of the group, ran towards the badger to save his life. The badger showed him the magic trunk.

"Take it! Go! It's more important than me!"

At the same moment, Johanna shouted the name of her brother and begged him to return. Caspian took the trunk, put it into a small bag and, when he raised his head, he noticed that the soldiers were now very close to them, ready to shoot their arrows.

Johanna shouted with all of her strengths the name of her brother, with her two fists tightened very hard on each side of her body.

Suddenly, the strangest thing occurred, several soldiers fell on the ground, some seemed to fight against a tiny invisible man. It was as if all the soldiers had become crazy.

Caspian took advantage of this incredible luck to put the badger on his shoulder and to start over his race, shouting to her sister to leave too.

From time to time, during her race, Johanna looked behind her. She knew very well that it decreased the speed of her running considerably, but the shouts coming from the soldiers, who fell one after the other, intrigued her strongly.

Caspian confide the badger to the dwarf and said to the three to continue their race without him, because he was going to fight the remaining soldiers. Johanna seemed ready to retort, but Caspian threw her one of his glaring look, which, she knew, meant that she had no choice but to follow his orders.

Caspian removed the sword of his sheath and prepared mentally to fight. The soldiers were all killed rather quickly, but by somebody else than him. He then saw that the "thing" which was involved in this massacre got closer to him, by the high uncut grass which moved on the ground.

This thing jumped abruptly on its trunk, making him lose balance. He fell hard on the ground covered with roots. As soon as he took back his spirits, he was quite surprised to see who his assailant was.

"Chose your lasts words carefully, Telmarine!" The little mouse said, standing up on his torso.

"You are a mouse…" Caspian managed to say, perplexed.

The mouse sighed. "I was hoping for something a little more original… Pick up your sword!"

"Uuh… No thanks."

"Pick it up! I will not fight an unarmed man!"

"Which is why I might live longer, if I chose not to cross blade with you, noble mouse…"

"I said I would not _fight_ you. I didn't say I'd let you live!"

"Caspian!" shout his sister who run towards him and knelt at his side, protecting his face with her arms.

The mouse was quite surprised to see a girl being part of the army of Telmarines, but did not plan to make her a special treatment because of her special disposition.

"You thus decided to die with him Telmarine? Let it be, then!" He said as he raised his weapon on the two humans who were closing their eyes strongly, waiting for the deathblow.

"Reepicheep! Still your blade!" Trufflehunter shouted.

Caspian and Johanna opened back their eyes, happy to have been saved again.

"Trufflehunter? I trusted you have a very good reason fort the untimely interruption." The mouse grumbled.

"He doesn't. Go ahead!" The dwarf said with a narrow voice.

"He's the one who blew the horn!" Trufflehunter hurried to answer.

"What?" The little mouse frowned.

"Then let him bring it forward. This is the reason we have gathered." A distant voice said.

"It-It's… A centaur…" Johanna said with her voice filled with amazement.

--

**Author's ****note:** FINALLY! OVER! Geez this was SO long to translate. And, oh well… Sorry the two groups do not meet in this chapter! ;)


End file.
